On Sunday we began our journey to the opposite end of the country: the Golan Heights. Along the way we stopped at the site of the Valley of Tears, where very few Israeli tanks battled outnumbered for 3 days against Syria during the Yom Kippur war. We discussed the battle and later stopped to see a movie in which participants were interviewed. we also stopped at a scenic overlook of the mountains to discuss the story of Eli Cohen, and Israeli spy who gathered information for years in Syria that proved crucial to Israel's success in the Yom Kippur war and ultimately to its survival as a country.The story of the Syrian defeat was crazy, and it was interesting to learn about something more modern and relevant in Israel's history. The North is my favorite part of Israel; it's lush, green, and mountainous. Despite its beauty, however, the countryside is still punctuated with barbed wire fences and signs warning of remaining land mines from Syria. To me, these symbols serve as reminders that Israel's existence is indeed precarious. Additionally, we were in what is called the "finger of Israel," or its Northernmost part-Lebanon and Syria are literally a mountain away. Again, crazy.
We had an afternoon of fun as we kayaked and rafted down the Jordan river, which is surprisingly not that wide across. At night we stayed at the Ginossar Hotel again and enjoyed their famously delicious dinner. The next morning we zip-lined or rappelled down a mountain, which was cool, and had a picnic lunch at a park. Amazingly, it rained! At the park we had a serious discussion about whether or not Israel should give the Golan Heights back to Syria. Afterwards, we boarded the bus for a long ride home and DOTS.
Tuesday we woke up late and cleaned up a little; we had been on the move like crazy for the past few weeks. In the afternoon we headed to Jerusalem for Shavuot. We checked into our hotel and then had free time on Mahane Yehuda, a street with a famous shuk, or market. My friend Jess and I decided to forgo shopping and instead purchased fruit, nuts, parmesan cheese, and olives from the fresh outdoor food stalls and have a picnic; it was a gorgeous, breezy day- a nice break from the heat of the rest of the country.
At night we walked to services at a Karlebach shul for Shavuot. The singing was beautiful and I really enjoyed the service. Afterwards we went back to the hotel for a little to rest, because it's a custom to stay up all night learning on Shavuot and I fully planned on doing so. I succeeded in attending 2 sessions and staying awake for one and a half (I tried for three, but one was too full), walking around Jerusalem in the middle of the night with my friends and hundreds of other Jews, and pulling an all-nighter. I know my mom is probably freaking out as she reads this but it was really, really cool to be able to do this while feeling safe and like it was the norm. We met up with the rest of the group at the hotel at 4 a.m. to walk to the Kotel; it is also customary to go there on the Shalosh Regalim, which consist of Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot, so we went. It was insanely crowded, so I said the Amidah and then left- the sleeplessness and pushiness of hundreds of women were not a good combination. We returned to the hotel to sleep, and in the afternoon we went to a park to eat, rest, and hang out.
Thursday and Friday were pretty uneventful (for me at least) because I had to take the AP Spanish and English Literature exams. I'm not sure if this is a good or bad thing, but I started speaking Hebrew into the recorder during the oral part of the Spanish examination.
Thursday night, however, I was able to go to the Tel Aviv Museum of Art (which I have been wanting to do since spring break) with two of my friends. It was a great museum, and I know it sounds silly but I was so proud of it- even though I think of Israel as being so small and such a new country, the museum housed works of big names like Monet, Renoir, Picasso, Klimt, and Matisse. Anyway, I was impressed. I went to 4 exhibits: Tamar Getter, Robert Baser, Edgar Degas, and Melanie Daniel. The explanations for Getter's work were all in Hebrew, so while I didn't learn that much about her pieces I enjoyed them for their aesthetic value. The Robert Baser exhibit was really cool, firstly because it was huge and showcased a wide variety of styles and mediums and secondly because his pieces represented different times in Israel's history- reading the titles and dates helped me put each piece (many were about the Lebanon and Gaza wars, and one that gave me chills, called "Unknown Soldier," consisted of polyester tubes painted and sculpted to look like organs with a circular mirror on top where the head should have been) in context. On a different note, the Degas exhibit consisted of his entire collection of bronze sculpture that mostly represented French ballerinas during the 1880's. On an obvious level it was interesting to see a representation of movement cast in bronze. My favorite thing I learned though was that instead of glorifying the womanly figure, Degas chose to show the suffering and humanness of what was a lower class profession; over half the sculptures portrayed women bathing, pulling on stockings, or rubbing their backs. Melanie Daniel won a prize for new Israeli painters, and I really liked her paintings because they were different than what I had been told while visiting the galleries was traditional "Israeli" art. She's from Canada, so she painted scenes of snow and forests in cool colors, very different than the art (which was lighter and often inspired by the Bible or the Israeli desert) I saw in Tel Aviv. There was also a really cool installation by an artist named Tzuri Guetta, which is hard to describe but I would suggest looking up- it blew my mind. With that, I am done ranting. I really got a lot out of it though, and I'm glad I got to go before leaving.
So back to Friday...after the exam we had free time and just hung out. Shabbat services and dinner were nice but a little sad as they signalled the coming of our group's last weekend in Israel together. We stayed up late, talking, playing Bananagrams, and packing. It's scary to see our rooms start to empty; I can see some parts of the floor for the first time in weeks.
Now it's Saturday, and services today were as special as those in Tzfat. We actually had to break to eat lunch because we were running overtime and the cafeteria workers needed to get home. People read Torah and Haftorah, gave a Dvar Torah, and a speech. It was an involved, participatory Shabbat, and I started tearing up during the Torah service. I know I can go to Shul at home, but I'll miss the feeling of oneness I have when I look up at the podium and see that those men and women are just 18 year old kids, kids my age- my friends. It never fails to impress and amaze me. Our circle of singing Adon Olam was even louder and more spirited this time around, but as powerfully beautiful as the sound was it also saddened me- it was another one of those "lasts."
After services I finished packing, and then we had a final bus meeting in which we said one challenge from the trip and what we had gained. Mine are sort of long and well-suited for a final blog post, so I'll save it for then. But yeah. Second to last night? Time has flown. On the plus side, I am typing in the present- I'm caught up! To give you an outline of what's left, we have Havdallah tonight, a day in Jerusalem tomorrow, banquet, and then...JDS leaves. I'll try and post before Weber does too. Shabbat Shalom, Shavua Tov.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Eilat!
The dates are messed up again- the last post was actually published on May 20; right now I'm blogging about the Sunday after Tzfat (May 9). I don't actually remember what we did- I think just unpack from Yam el Yam and rest, but that night we did have a concert with some hippy-dippy new age Israeli musicians which was a lot of fun and a little bit funny.
Anyways, on Monday we began our journey to Eilat, the southernmost city in Israel. The trip takes about 5 and half hours, so we stopped along the way. We visited Ben Gurion's house in Sde Boker and discussed the possibility of making Aliyah in light of the fact that Ben Gurion was one of the strongest Zionists (who said that to be a true Zionist, you had to make Aliyah). We then made our way to the Bedouin tents in the desert (and this was really desert-sandy, windy, and brown), which is one of the trip's highlights. We rode camels (fun, but mounting and dismounting was terrifying), and then rested in the tents before a delicious dinner of traditional Bedouin food- kebab, rice, hummus, etc. To the Weber kids' surprise, a group from Davis was at the tents also. We were happy to see fellow Atlantans and conveyed our love of Weber to all of the incoming students. They were having a Bedouin music concert and dance party, so we crashed along with some JDS kids and had a great time dancing and drumming. Later that night our group shared tea and baclava, cuddled in the tents, and sang and played guitar.
In the morning we stopped for Tefillah at the largest crater in the world in what I think was Mizpeh Ramon. I've expressed before how beautiful the canyons and cliffs of the Israeli desert are, and this was another gorgeous view of them. I chose to do a creative writing Tefillah, in which we sat in a circle overlooking the drop and wrote pass-it-on poetry inspired by the desert (each person writes a line, and then you pass it on). Afterwards we took a bus and hiked to the sand dunes. To me the concept of having sand dunes be a tourist destination was sort of odd, because I was envisioning little ones like those at the beach. These sand dunes, however, were hugely massive and soft and very conducive to frolicking, and I proceeded to run down and up them 3 times. It's crazy to think that even though Israel is so small it contains such a variety of landscape and weather- again, this was true desert- no trees and 100 degree heat. It was a ton of fun but needless to say I was grateful to come back to the air-conditioned bus.
We kept driving and made another stop at a view of more mountains. Our teacher, who is now religious and made Aliyah after being an agnostic for almost 27 years of his life, shared his story with us and we discussed journeys in general. He told us that according to the Baal Shem Tov, each person has 42 journeys in life, and the group shared some of our experiences with our journies as well. As we were talking, I saw a big white plane in my periphery, puncturing the clear blue of the sky. I walk my dog every day at home and for some reason I usually look up and see planes while doing so. I always think about the people on them, where they are going, and that if I were on the plane what I would be doing. The weeks before this trip I always envisioned myself on the ride over to Israel, but sitting there I began to think about the quickly approaching plane ride that would begin another phase of my life-going back home, and then going to college. I was sad to think about leaving Israel, happy to be back with my friends and family in Atlanta, nervous and excited to think about the upcoming adventures I would have; it was one of those moments.
On Wednesday I opted to hike Har Shlomo, which our teacher said was his second favorite hike in Israel. It was awesome, and I'm so glad I did it. I felt like I was on Mars- everything was red, rocky, and sandy. We started early to beat the sun and it thankfully wasn't too hot; when we reached the top we had a nice breeze as we looked below onto the city of Eilat and neighboring Jordan. The view was incredible. In the afternoon we had some free time and I went to the beach. The water is totally clear, and looking out at the sea with mountains in the backdrop made me never want to leave Israel. Sure, Eilat is a little touristy, but with good reason. It's paradise. That night we boarded a disco boat for a dance party. It reminded me of the first night, except that now I knew everyone, and it was a ton of fun.
Thursday was our last day in Eilat, and those that did the Har Shlomo hike went snorkeling in the morning. I had no idea that Israel had coral reefs, but my assumptions about this country were proven wrong yet again. The fish and coral were awesome and it was also nice because the water was so clear- I could see everything. Afterwards we had some more free time in which I soaked up more of the gorgeous beach view and did a little shopping. A five and a half hour bus ride followed with incredible views of the Israeli landscape, and then we were back to campus again.
Anyways, on Monday we began our journey to Eilat, the southernmost city in Israel. The trip takes about 5 and half hours, so we stopped along the way. We visited Ben Gurion's house in Sde Boker and discussed the possibility of making Aliyah in light of the fact that Ben Gurion was one of the strongest Zionists (who said that to be a true Zionist, you had to make Aliyah). We then made our way to the Bedouin tents in the desert (and this was really desert-sandy, windy, and brown), which is one of the trip's highlights. We rode camels (fun, but mounting and dismounting was terrifying), and then rested in the tents before a delicious dinner of traditional Bedouin food- kebab, rice, hummus, etc. To the Weber kids' surprise, a group from Davis was at the tents also. We were happy to see fellow Atlantans and conveyed our love of Weber to all of the incoming students. They were having a Bedouin music concert and dance party, so we crashed along with some JDS kids and had a great time dancing and drumming. Later that night our group shared tea and baclava, cuddled in the tents, and sang and played guitar.
In the morning we stopped for Tefillah at the largest crater in the world in what I think was Mizpeh Ramon. I've expressed before how beautiful the canyons and cliffs of the Israeli desert are, and this was another gorgeous view of them. I chose to do a creative writing Tefillah, in which we sat in a circle overlooking the drop and wrote pass-it-on poetry inspired by the desert (each person writes a line, and then you pass it on). Afterwards we took a bus and hiked to the sand dunes. To me the concept of having sand dunes be a tourist destination was sort of odd, because I was envisioning little ones like those at the beach. These sand dunes, however, were hugely massive and soft and very conducive to frolicking, and I proceeded to run down and up them 3 times. It's crazy to think that even though Israel is so small it contains such a variety of landscape and weather- again, this was true desert- no trees and 100 degree heat. It was a ton of fun but needless to say I was grateful to come back to the air-conditioned bus.
We kept driving and made another stop at a view of more mountains. Our teacher, who is now religious and made Aliyah after being an agnostic for almost 27 years of his life, shared his story with us and we discussed journeys in general. He told us that according to the Baal Shem Tov, each person has 42 journeys in life, and the group shared some of our experiences with our journies as well. As we were talking, I saw a big white plane in my periphery, puncturing the clear blue of the sky. I walk my dog every day at home and for some reason I usually look up and see planes while doing so. I always think about the people on them, where they are going, and that if I were on the plane what I would be doing. The weeks before this trip I always envisioned myself on the ride over to Israel, but sitting there I began to think about the quickly approaching plane ride that would begin another phase of my life-going back home, and then going to college. I was sad to think about leaving Israel, happy to be back with my friends and family in Atlanta, nervous and excited to think about the upcoming adventures I would have; it was one of those moments.
On Wednesday I opted to hike Har Shlomo, which our teacher said was his second favorite hike in Israel. It was awesome, and I'm so glad I did it. I felt like I was on Mars- everything was red, rocky, and sandy. We started early to beat the sun and it thankfully wasn't too hot; when we reached the top we had a nice breeze as we looked below onto the city of Eilat and neighboring Jordan. The view was incredible. In the afternoon we had some free time and I went to the beach. The water is totally clear, and looking out at the sea with mountains in the backdrop made me never want to leave Israel. Sure, Eilat is a little touristy, but with good reason. It's paradise. That night we boarded a disco boat for a dance party. It reminded me of the first night, except that now I knew everyone, and it was a ton of fun.
Thursday was our last day in Eilat, and those that did the Har Shlomo hike went snorkeling in the morning. I had no idea that Israel had coral reefs, but my assumptions about this country were proven wrong yet again. The fish and coral were awesome and it was also nice because the water was so clear- I could see everything. Afterwards we had some more free time in which I soaked up more of the gorgeous beach view and did a little shopping. A five and a half hour bus ride followed with incredible views of the Israeli landscape, and then we were back to campus again.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
A Bit More Catching Up, Yam El Yam, Shabbat in Tzfat
Our kibbutz group rejoined everyone else for shabbat at another kibbutz in the North the Friday after we finished volunteering. Before we departed to dinner and evening services, our teachers made us make a circle and had people on one end go around the inside to hug each person and wish them a "Shabbat Shalom" so that every person ended up being hugged and greeted. It was so nice to see everyone again, both from JDS and Weber, and as I looked around I realized that this circle didn't feel like 93 random people. It felt small; I knew every face and every name.
On Saturday we went to services and then walked to a nearby park. We all may be 18, but that doesn't stop us from frolicking around on playground equipment, and that we did in addition to sleeping in the sun and enjoying more melon (it's in season and apparently very inexpensive here). After Havdalah, we had a customary Lag B'Omer bonfire in which we sang and roasted marshmallows and sweet potatoes, and then we headed home.
Sunday was one of my favorite days on the trip thus far. We all got to split up and choose different things to do in Tel Aviv in the morning, and I chose to do an art gallery tour with ten other people. We had a little extra time in the morning, so we set off to find a coffee shop, but a few friends and I ended up at an amazing cupcake bakery-not a bad way to start the day. Then we met with a woman who gives art tours and she showed us around four different galleries and gave us a little background on Israeli art. We saw some truly amazing pieces, both old and new, and the gallery setting combined with the small group size made for an intimate and meaningful experience. The Dan and Stern galleries were my favorites. What I found most interesting regarding what the woman had to say was how the artists used color and light to express the Israel and its people in contrast to the places (mostly Eastern Europe, so think dark and oppressive) from which they immigrated. After our tour we rejoined everyone else for an afternoon on the beach. Unfortunately I spent most of it studying for my upcoming AP Government exam, but it was still nice to be outside. For dinner we went to a mall and did some gift-getting as well. It was a nice day to have a day in the city after being secluded on the kibbutz for so long.
Monday I took the AP Gov exam, and all I can say is that I am glad to be done with it. Once we finished we boarded a bus to join the rest of the group for dinner at a Druze village. We had a short introduction to Druze culture as well, and its so interesting. The Druze are Arab but fight in the Israeli army. Their religion is about 60 years old, and the tenets of it are actually secret. They believe in reincarnation and members of the religion have three opportunities to become religious (most stay secular during childhood and young adult years), after which they learn the secrets of the religions. Dinner was delicious and was followed by fun live music and dancing.
Tuesday began our 4 day trip of hiking from the Mediterranean Sea to the Kineret, also known as Yam el Yam. Our depature was prefaced by a tekes, or ceremony, at the sea, in which we all recieved Weber-JDS headbands and got excited for our adventure. We actually didn't start with hiking, but biking! It was a little hectic doing so with 90 kids, and the rocky dirt roads made for a bumpy ride, but we accomplished our goal of covering a lot of flat, boring ground quickly. At lunch we dismounted and split up into hiking groups. I opted to go with Etgar Plus, which means that you hike a little extra each day. I was nervous before going but it ended up being a great decision, and I did this group every day. Our "plus" was visiting some ancient ruins on the top of a hill, and the view and wind (our madrich took a "wind shower," which consists of stripping down to underwear and facing the wind to air out, and got all the boys to join him) was awesome. The cool part about hiking in Israel is that not only is the landscape incredibly gorgeous but there are also random historical sites and ruins everywhere that give the land a special significance and feeling. We also stopped at a Mayan, or spring, on our route, and went into an underwater cave. The water and Turkish coffee made by our teachers hit the spot.
The other nice thing about this hiking trip is thata catering company followed us around to provide us with 3 meals a day and set up our tents. So yeah- not that hardcore, but I wasn't complaining. We arrived at camp just in time for hot soup and dinner, and our evening activities included looking at stars, sitting aroubd a bonfire, singing, and cuddling- just a few of my favorite things.
Etgar Plus completed 21 kilometers (almost 12 miles!) of hiking on the second day of Yam el Yam. The hike was just as beautiful as day 1, with the added bonus of what our teacher called the "little spot of heaven"- a hill with a perfect view of Tzfat below us. The next day we did 19 kilometers and encountered an extra uphill challenge as we ascended to a mikveh at the top of a hill.
Friday was our last day, and probably my favorite. The terrain was different from the rocky ups and downs of the previous few days; the trail was flat and obscured by thorny bushes. Our teacher talked about how while the thorns hurt hikers, they help plants pollinate and grow, and we had a very meaningful discussion in which the group opened up about the thorns in our lives and how we could grow from them. We then embarked on a silent and separate hike for the next hour. I love hiking silently, and it gave me some time to reflect on our trip thus far as well as to take in the beauty of the cavernous rock walls above me. We regrouped after a while to begin the final stretch of hiking towards our destination, the Kineret, which was pleasantly interrupted by a fresh-from-the-field melon-eating stop. When we finally made it we stripped off our clothes and jumped in. The Kineret is technically a lake, but it is an incredibly beautiful one surrounded by mountains, and getting in the water with my friends and taking in my surroundings after those four days of hiking was one of my favorite moments on the trip; I felt not only accomplished but also a sense of unity with the people and land surrounding me. We walked across the country! Unfortunately we didn't have too much time there because we had an appointment to make at a nearby water park. Water slides, a pool, more Kineret-frolicking, and ice cream awaited, and this was a great break after being on our feet for so long.
Post water-park we left to spend Shabbat in Tzfat. Friday night we walked around the city, went to services, and had dinner- nothing too special. Saturday morning, on the other hand, was one of the best Shabbatot I've had. A little background- every Shabbat that we are on campus, we (the students) have the option of attending several different minyans, or prayer services. There's a secular/storytelling/alternative minyan, and there's an orthodox one. Even though I'm not religious and half the time I have no idea what's happening in the service I always go to the orthodox minyan. I figure if I have to spend time praying I might as well do it right, and I enjoy the silent reflection time. There is a mechitzah, of course, and the boy's side definitely wins in terms of both attendance and spirit. The girl's side starts out alright, with about 10-15 people in attendance, but slowly dwindles down to about 4. My friend Michal and I are always two of the last ones standing (good old fashioned Jewish guilt keeps me from dipping out, I can't speak for her), and we also always roll our eyes at all the ditchers and joke about our hardcoreness.
This Shabbat was no different than usual in that the girls slowly slipped away as the Torah reading approached. For some reason, however, as the service progressed the boy's side got more and more into it, singing prayers aloud instead of saying them in silence for the sake of saving time and adding more and more optional songs and prayers as well. I didn'tknow all of the words but I participated when I could- I just love listening to people praying. Apparently our ruach was noticed by others as well, because something miraculous happened- we actually gained members as the secular minyan let out! At the end each side usually makes its own circle and sings Adon Olam to conclude the service. Today, however, we joined together, and with our arms around each other sang the song to a beautiful Karlebach tune. I smiled the whole time. I know this seems like such a little thing, but as someone who has had mostly negative experiences with prayer growing up (and I'm sure many Jews can relate- I'm talking Sunday school and forced prayer in Jewish day school, common complaints from my peers as to why they dislike praying so much), this moment of unity, harmony, and joy expressed through song was so refreshing. Birkat at lunch was equally spirited, with musical accompaniment courtesy of forks tapped on glasses and plates and fists banged on tables; singing after dinner and during Havdallah was stronger than usual as well. Maybe it was the spirituality of the city of Tzfat, maybe our group had become closer after Yam el Yam, maybe it was just one of those days, but this Shabbat was really wonderful.
On Saturday we went to services and then walked to a nearby park. We all may be 18, but that doesn't stop us from frolicking around on playground equipment, and that we did in addition to sleeping in the sun and enjoying more melon (it's in season and apparently very inexpensive here). After Havdalah, we had a customary Lag B'Omer bonfire in which we sang and roasted marshmallows and sweet potatoes, and then we headed home.
Sunday was one of my favorite days on the trip thus far. We all got to split up and choose different things to do in Tel Aviv in the morning, and I chose to do an art gallery tour with ten other people. We had a little extra time in the morning, so we set off to find a coffee shop, but a few friends and I ended up at an amazing cupcake bakery-not a bad way to start the day. Then we met with a woman who gives art tours and she showed us around four different galleries and gave us a little background on Israeli art. We saw some truly amazing pieces, both old and new, and the gallery setting combined with the small group size made for an intimate and meaningful experience. The Dan and Stern galleries were my favorites. What I found most interesting regarding what the woman had to say was how the artists used color and light to express the Israel and its people in contrast to the places (mostly Eastern Europe, so think dark and oppressive) from which they immigrated. After our tour we rejoined everyone else for an afternoon on the beach. Unfortunately I spent most of it studying for my upcoming AP Government exam, but it was still nice to be outside. For dinner we went to a mall and did some gift-getting as well. It was a nice day to have a day in the city after being secluded on the kibbutz for so long.
Monday I took the AP Gov exam, and all I can say is that I am glad to be done with it. Once we finished we boarded a bus to join the rest of the group for dinner at a Druze village. We had a short introduction to Druze culture as well, and its so interesting. The Druze are Arab but fight in the Israeli army. Their religion is about 60 years old, and the tenets of it are actually secret. They believe in reincarnation and members of the religion have three opportunities to become religious (most stay secular during childhood and young adult years), after which they learn the secrets of the religions. Dinner was delicious and was followed by fun live music and dancing.
Tuesday began our 4 day trip of hiking from the Mediterranean Sea to the Kineret, also known as Yam el Yam. Our depature was prefaced by a tekes, or ceremony, at the sea, in which we all recieved Weber-JDS headbands and got excited for our adventure. We actually didn't start with hiking, but biking! It was a little hectic doing so with 90 kids, and the rocky dirt roads made for a bumpy ride, but we accomplished our goal of covering a lot of flat, boring ground quickly. At lunch we dismounted and split up into hiking groups. I opted to go with Etgar Plus, which means that you hike a little extra each day. I was nervous before going but it ended up being a great decision, and I did this group every day. Our "plus" was visiting some ancient ruins on the top of a hill, and the view and wind (our madrich took a "wind shower," which consists of stripping down to underwear and facing the wind to air out, and got all the boys to join him) was awesome. The cool part about hiking in Israel is that not only is the landscape incredibly gorgeous but there are also random historical sites and ruins everywhere that give the land a special significance and feeling. We also stopped at a Mayan, or spring, on our route, and went into an underwater cave. The water and Turkish coffee made by our teachers hit the spot.
The other nice thing about this hiking trip is thata catering company followed us around to provide us with 3 meals a day and set up our tents. So yeah- not that hardcore, but I wasn't complaining. We arrived at camp just in time for hot soup and dinner, and our evening activities included looking at stars, sitting aroubd a bonfire, singing, and cuddling- just a few of my favorite things.
Etgar Plus completed 21 kilometers (almost 12 miles!) of hiking on the second day of Yam el Yam. The hike was just as beautiful as day 1, with the added bonus of what our teacher called the "little spot of heaven"- a hill with a perfect view of Tzfat below us. The next day we did 19 kilometers and encountered an extra uphill challenge as we ascended to a mikveh at the top of a hill.
Friday was our last day, and probably my favorite. The terrain was different from the rocky ups and downs of the previous few days; the trail was flat and obscured by thorny bushes. Our teacher talked about how while the thorns hurt hikers, they help plants pollinate and grow, and we had a very meaningful discussion in which the group opened up about the thorns in our lives and how we could grow from them. We then embarked on a silent and separate hike for the next hour. I love hiking silently, and it gave me some time to reflect on our trip thus far as well as to take in the beauty of the cavernous rock walls above me. We regrouped after a while to begin the final stretch of hiking towards our destination, the Kineret, which was pleasantly interrupted by a fresh-from-the-field melon-eating stop. When we finally made it we stripped off our clothes and jumped in. The Kineret is technically a lake, but it is an incredibly beautiful one surrounded by mountains, and getting in the water with my friends and taking in my surroundings after those four days of hiking was one of my favorite moments on the trip; I felt not only accomplished but also a sense of unity with the people and land surrounding me. We walked across the country! Unfortunately we didn't have too much time there because we had an appointment to make at a nearby water park. Water slides, a pool, more Kineret-frolicking, and ice cream awaited, and this was a great break after being on our feet for so long.
Post water-park we left to spend Shabbat in Tzfat. Friday night we walked around the city, went to services, and had dinner- nothing too special. Saturday morning, on the other hand, was one of the best Shabbatot I've had. A little background- every Shabbat that we are on campus, we (the students) have the option of attending several different minyans, or prayer services. There's a secular/storytelling/alternative minyan, and there's an orthodox one. Even though I'm not religious and half the time I have no idea what's happening in the service I always go to the orthodox minyan. I figure if I have to spend time praying I might as well do it right, and I enjoy the silent reflection time. There is a mechitzah, of course, and the boy's side definitely wins in terms of both attendance and spirit. The girl's side starts out alright, with about 10-15 people in attendance, but slowly dwindles down to about 4. My friend Michal and I are always two of the last ones standing (good old fashioned Jewish guilt keeps me from dipping out, I can't speak for her), and we also always roll our eyes at all the ditchers and joke about our hardcoreness.
This Shabbat was no different than usual in that the girls slowly slipped away as the Torah reading approached. For some reason, however, as the service progressed the boy's side got more and more into it, singing prayers aloud instead of saying them in silence for the sake of saving time and adding more and more optional songs and prayers as well. I didn'tknow all of the words but I participated when I could- I just love listening to people praying. Apparently our ruach was noticed by others as well, because something miraculous happened- we actually gained members as the secular minyan let out! At the end each side usually makes its own circle and sings Adon Olam to conclude the service. Today, however, we joined together, and with our arms around each other sang the song to a beautiful Karlebach tune. I smiled the whole time. I know this seems like such a little thing, but as someone who has had mostly negative experiences with prayer growing up (and I'm sure many Jews can relate- I'm talking Sunday school and forced prayer in Jewish day school, common complaints from my peers as to why they dislike praying so much), this moment of unity, harmony, and joy expressed through song was so refreshing. Birkat at lunch was equally spirited, with musical accompaniment courtesy of forks tapped on glasses and plates and fists banged on tables; singing after dinner and during Havdallah was stronger than usual as well. Maybe it was the spirituality of the city of Tzfat, maybe our group had become closer after Yam el Yam, maybe it was just one of those days, but this Shabbat was really wonderful.
Yom HaAtzmaut, Last Weeks of Kibbutz
I'm behind! Here's a recap of the last few weeks of our volunteer period on kibbutz, starting where I left off (after Yom HaZikaron):
Yom HaAtzmaut in Israel turned out to be exciting in more ways than one. Various members of our group worked all day to prepare for the kibbutz's festivities by working in the kitchen and setting up tables for the epic dinner that would feed over 500 people. That night we gathered on the lawn with the rest of the kibbutz to enjoy the fruits of our labor and celebrate Israel's independence, and some kids were throwing around flares and fireworks in honor of the day. One flare went a little too high, and landed in a palm tree, which subsqequently caught fire and caused much excitement. My boss, the head of the vineyard, had to bring a tractor with an elevated platform used to pick dates to hoist someone up to hose down the top of the flaming (ok, it wasn't that bad, but it was still on fire!) tree. After that was taken care of, we enjoyed dinner, a fantastic fireworks show, some crazy Israeli dancing that does not resemble American-Israeli dancing in the least, and a bunch of the boys in our group played with the kibbutz kids.
The next day we joined one of the other volunteer groups that stayed in Tzfat (and about a million other Israelis who also wanted to barbecue on the holiday) for a day off at the natural springs of Sachne. It was a beautiful day spent with wonderful people, and we really appreciated the break after experiencing two weeks of 8 hour work days and 5:30 a.m. wake-ups. We swam, vegged out, and thoroughly enjoyed the traditional Yom HaAtzmaut barbecue and watermelon.
The rest of volunteer period passed by so fast. I finished working in the kitchen and went back to the vineyard (thank goodness) and we moved on to pruning pomegranate trees. This was slightly more stimulating than plucking leaves off the grape vines to make sun windows, and the pomegranate trees were also quite fascinating to me (pomegranates are my favorites fruit). The fruit begins as a bright red flower with 6 petals, and these harden as the blossom matures. If you split the bulbous bottom part of the flower in half, you can see the hundreds of tiny yellow grains that will magically transform to the juicy, succulent ruby-colored gems that make up the fruit of the pomegranate. And as an added bonus, the orchards smell wonderful.
Other highlights of activities our group did included going to Tiberia for a night off, again with the Tzfat people, making poyke (which is a delicious and hearty stew filled with meat, beans and vegetables that has to cook for 3 hours but is well worth the wait), going on a star-gazing night walk, having a bonfire, and watching many movies. The three weeks went by too fast, and I was sad to leave the intimate setting of our group (but not as sad to leave the early wake ups) when the time came to go. Living on a kibbutz was a great learning experience, and I was able to hear from many kibbutzniks about the pros and cons of such a lifestyle. Although I don't think I would be able to live on a kibbutz, it was interesting to see that this societal model could function and prosper.
Yom HaAtzmaut in Israel turned out to be exciting in more ways than one. Various members of our group worked all day to prepare for the kibbutz's festivities by working in the kitchen and setting up tables for the epic dinner that would feed over 500 people. That night we gathered on the lawn with the rest of the kibbutz to enjoy the fruits of our labor and celebrate Israel's independence, and some kids were throwing around flares and fireworks in honor of the day. One flare went a little too high, and landed in a palm tree, which subsqequently caught fire and caused much excitement. My boss, the head of the vineyard, had to bring a tractor with an elevated platform used to pick dates to hoist someone up to hose down the top of the flaming (ok, it wasn't that bad, but it was still on fire!) tree. After that was taken care of, we enjoyed dinner, a fantastic fireworks show, some crazy Israeli dancing that does not resemble American-Israeli dancing in the least, and a bunch of the boys in our group played with the kibbutz kids.
The next day we joined one of the other volunteer groups that stayed in Tzfat (and about a million other Israelis who also wanted to barbecue on the holiday) for a day off at the natural springs of Sachne. It was a beautiful day spent with wonderful people, and we really appreciated the break after experiencing two weeks of 8 hour work days and 5:30 a.m. wake-ups. We swam, vegged out, and thoroughly enjoyed the traditional Yom HaAtzmaut barbecue and watermelon.
The rest of volunteer period passed by so fast. I finished working in the kitchen and went back to the vineyard (thank goodness) and we moved on to pruning pomegranate trees. This was slightly more stimulating than plucking leaves off the grape vines to make sun windows, and the pomegranate trees were also quite fascinating to me (pomegranates are my favorites fruit). The fruit begins as a bright red flower with 6 petals, and these harden as the blossom matures. If you split the bulbous bottom part of the flower in half, you can see the hundreds of tiny yellow grains that will magically transform to the juicy, succulent ruby-colored gems that make up the fruit of the pomegranate. And as an added bonus, the orchards smell wonderful.
Other highlights of activities our group did included going to Tiberia for a night off, again with the Tzfat people, making poyke (which is a delicious and hearty stew filled with meat, beans and vegetables that has to cook for 3 hours but is well worth the wait), going on a star-gazing night walk, having a bonfire, and watching many movies. The three weeks went by too fast, and I was sad to leave the intimate setting of our group (but not as sad to leave the early wake ups) when the time came to go. Living on a kibbutz was a great learning experience, and I was able to hear from many kibbutzniks about the pros and cons of such a lifestyle. Although I don't think I would be able to live on a kibbutz, it was interesting to see that this societal model could function and prosper.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Home
I want to talk about experiencing Yom HaZikaron, or Remembrance Day for the fallen soldiers of Israel. But first I want to share a letter with you that my friend sent me. For the record, she's Catholic- we met through Weber's Peace by Piece program, which involves Marist, the W.D. Mohammad school, and Weber and promotes interfaith education. She references Garden State, which is a great movie, and the song "Home" by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. Here it is:
"Greetings from the U.S.!
I found this sweet little card lodged behind some papers in my desk that I bought just for fun, and I thought you'd like it! I have a lot of things I want to say, but I'll start out with a quote from a favorite book of mine, Into the Wild: "The core of man's spirit comes from new experiences," and you are definitely embarking on a life-changing adventure.
I'm not Jewish, obviously, and I don't think Christians really have an "Israel-like" place that I can make a comparison to- but I do feel that I understand teh longing to be home. To finally have a place in the world that is truly yours, somethign precious and special to call your own.
Just last night I was watching Garden State again and noticed the line whre Andrew tells Sam he feels safe with her-he feels home. And the Edward Sharpe song- "home is wherever I'm with you." It seems to be a recurring theme that is surrounding me lately, and I'm finally understanding how important human relations and the feeling of being comfortable- completely yourself, is what everyone is searching for.
How does this all relate? Well, I'm pretty good at history, and I remembered how even in biblical times the Jews were always searching for home. It seems like Jews have never really been able to have a place to call their own for a long time. Except until Israel. You're in it- you're in that special place that is so important and close to many Jewish hearts.
So I guess what I'm trying to say is welcome home- to the home of your people-the home of your family past, present, and forever. I hope you are drinking in your surroundings with your whole heart. Think of you and everyone daily."
And now back to me.
On Erev Yom HaZikaron, we gathered in our common room area to have a discussion about the day. A day whose purpose had felt so distant every year previous as I sat tapping my foot in a schoolwide assembly listening to stories of people I had never met and singing songs in a strange language became real and emotional very quickly as we shared our thoughts about the army and the day itself. Because as obvious as it is to say, every Israeli that I have met here, from my madrichim to the 70 year old man in the vineyard to the cute babies at the playground, has been or will go to the army; all are potential victims, all have lost a friend or family member. The significance of the night for our group was intensified as one of my friends read the eulogy of her cousin that was written by his father, bringing the immediacy of the day even closer to home. Afterwards, we discussed the dying words of the famous Israeli nationalist Joseph Trumpeldor, who said it was "good to die for our country."
Usually, I would disagree wholeheartedly with this statement. Upon hearing it, I thought of Wilfred Owen's "Dulce Et Decorum Est." For some reason, maybe because I've read it every year in high school, the poem's irony and images of war have left a deep impact on me and effecitvely conveyed that war is not pretty, nor is it glamorous; dying for one's country is never a good or positive thing, despite the glorification of violence in our times. Like my friend so eloquently said though, I think Israel is more than a country. A country is a piece of land. Israel is a home. This word connotes love, family, unity, community, a haven, roots, religion- all of these things are positive, all are what Israel embodies and emanates. I might be being blindly Zionistic right now, because yes, all of the things I'm saying are purely emotional; they can't be cited by the CIA World Fact Book. But you come here and you feel it. Israel is more than a place on the map. It's truly a home for the Jews, home to all of these ideas greater than that of just nationalism, and while I don't think it is "good" to die for anything, I think I agree with Trumpeldor in that the concept of this country is worth defending.
If you have moment and you did not already do so on Yom HaZikaron, spend it in silence on behalf of the fallen soldiers of Israel and their friends and families. If you are interested in supporting Israeli soldiers, visit http://www.israelsoldiers.org/ for information and donation opportunities.
"Greetings from the U.S.!
I found this sweet little card lodged behind some papers in my desk that I bought just for fun, and I thought you'd like it! I have a lot of things I want to say, but I'll start out with a quote from a favorite book of mine, Into the Wild: "The core of man's spirit comes from new experiences," and you are definitely embarking on a life-changing adventure.
I'm not Jewish, obviously, and I don't think Christians really have an "Israel-like" place that I can make a comparison to- but I do feel that I understand teh longing to be home. To finally have a place in the world that is truly yours, somethign precious and special to call your own.
Just last night I was watching Garden State again and noticed the line whre Andrew tells Sam he feels safe with her-he feels home. And the Edward Sharpe song- "home is wherever I'm with you." It seems to be a recurring theme that is surrounding me lately, and I'm finally understanding how important human relations and the feeling of being comfortable- completely yourself, is what everyone is searching for.
How does this all relate? Well, I'm pretty good at history, and I remembered how even in biblical times the Jews were always searching for home. It seems like Jews have never really been able to have a place to call their own for a long time. Except until Israel. You're in it- you're in that special place that is so important and close to many Jewish hearts.
So I guess what I'm trying to say is welcome home- to the home of your people-the home of your family past, present, and forever. I hope you are drinking in your surroundings with your whole heart. Think of you and everyone daily."
And now back to me.
On Erev Yom HaZikaron, we gathered in our common room area to have a discussion about the day. A day whose purpose had felt so distant every year previous as I sat tapping my foot in a schoolwide assembly listening to stories of people I had never met and singing songs in a strange language became real and emotional very quickly as we shared our thoughts about the army and the day itself. Because as obvious as it is to say, every Israeli that I have met here, from my madrichim to the 70 year old man in the vineyard to the cute babies at the playground, has been or will go to the army; all are potential victims, all have lost a friend or family member. The significance of the night for our group was intensified as one of my friends read the eulogy of her cousin that was written by his father, bringing the immediacy of the day even closer to home. Afterwards, we discussed the dying words of the famous Israeli nationalist Joseph Trumpeldor, who said it was "good to die for our country."
Usually, I would disagree wholeheartedly with this statement. Upon hearing it, I thought of Wilfred Owen's "Dulce Et Decorum Est." For some reason, maybe because I've read it every year in high school, the poem's irony and images of war have left a deep impact on me and effecitvely conveyed that war is not pretty, nor is it glamorous; dying for one's country is never a good or positive thing, despite the glorification of violence in our times. Like my friend so eloquently said though, I think Israel is more than a country. A country is a piece of land. Israel is a home. This word connotes love, family, unity, community, a haven, roots, religion- all of these things are positive, all are what Israel embodies and emanates. I might be being blindly Zionistic right now, because yes, all of the things I'm saying are purely emotional; they can't be cited by the CIA World Fact Book. But you come here and you feel it. Israel is more than a place on the map. It's truly a home for the Jews, home to all of these ideas greater than that of just nationalism, and while I don't think it is "good" to die for anything, I think I agree with Trumpeldor in that the concept of this country is worth defending.
If you have moment and you did not already do so on Yom HaZikaron, spend it in silence on behalf of the fallen soldiers of Israel and their friends and families. If you are interested in supporting Israeli soldiers, visit http://www.israelsoldiers.org/ for information and donation opportunities.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
April 7-10, and Kibbutz! Week 1 (scroll down for an April 16 post)
After returning from Pesach vacation and reuniting with all of our friends, our group did another week of tiyulim before embarking on our 3 week volunteer period.
On Wednesday my bus volunteered at a soup kitchen in Jerusalem and also visited a special old age home that teaches elderly, poor immigrants craft skills in exchange for a weekly stipend and two meals a day. Their products are surprisingly beautiful, ranging from simple papier-mache birds to intricately carved wooden chamsas to silk challah covers to silver jewelry, and are sold to profit the organization. It's a really cool idea and it was comforting to see that these peopel were both being helped and empowered as they produced amazing art.
That night we had a guest speaker, Murray Greenfield, who was a New Yorker who made aliyah to Israel in the late forties to help smuggle immigrants into the country and get them out of detention camps, where the British often forced them to stay before Israel became a country. It was really interesting as I didn't know much about the detention camps or this period of Israel's history, and the subject was again approched on Thursday as we went to the Atlit detention camp to see how the detainees lived. Before going we stopped at the beach for a fun activity. When Israelis would smuggle immigrants in on boats, they would swap clothes with them in the harbor so that British officials wouldn't be able to distinguish the foreigners from the natives. So we split up into partners with one person going in the water and one person staying on shore- the shore person had to "rescue" the person in the water by switching clothes (we had bathing suits on underneath, not to worry) and carrying them ashore. It was a lot of fun and we frolicked in the waves for a good long while, but more than that the activity of carrying one another on our backs symbolized to me how Jewish people really strive take care of their own, both then and now. Afterwards we visited the remains of the detention camp, and it was beyond creepy. Keep in mind that most of the detainees were survivors of the Holocaust, and to me it felt like even after arriving in Israel they had just gone from one camp to another- Atlit consisted of barracks, barbed wire, watchtowers, and a shower room. Again, I really knew nothing about these camps so although I was slightly horrified it was interesting to learn about.
Friday was a fun day in which we got to know our madrich Eran a littler better. First we went to Latrun, the Israeli tank museum, and learned about the Independence war. Eran was a tank commander during his army service, so he gave us a tour of the different models that were on display and shared his experiences with us. We were invited back to his house for a lunch of hummus and falafel with his family. Good food, good company, and lots of funny baby pictures.
After a restful Shabbat on campus with the whole group, we split up to go on our three week period of volunteering. Some people went to Tzfat, two groups to different kibbutzim, and some people went to Sar El (an army base). I, however, am on the best volunteer option of all (in my humble opinion). I am volunteering on kibbutz Sde Eliyahu, which is a modern Orthodox kibbutz with a vineyard, pomegranate orchard, spice factory, carrot factory, and something called BioBee which uses insects as pesticide alternatives. They also produce many other food crops which are all organic; the farmer in charge is 86 and was Israel's first organic farmer. We are in a valley close to the Kineret, so basically we are surrounded by a 360 degree view of mountains. There are a multitude of natural springs, or mayanim, around us, and the groomed lawns, playgrounds, flowers, and palm trees give the grounds a resort-like feel. People travel everywhere by bike (I have only counted 6 cars) and there's no money here; instead, you can exchange shekalim for "funny money" (green paper squares imprinted with their monetary value) to use in the store, where everything is at least half the price it would be anywhere else in Israel because it is subsidized by the Kibbutz. There is a beautiful synagogue, a dining hall with 3 great meals a day, wireless internet, a swimming pool. It is truly amazing what this establishment, which was founded only 60 years ago by German immigrants, has accomplished and produced; people here live comfortably, perhaps even a bit luxuriously, through a socialist, religious system.
So here's how it works. We live on the kibbutz in dorm-like areas and have our own moadon, or common area, and get three meals a day, laundry, and whatever else we need in exchange for 8 hours of volunteer work. Each person does a different job each week. I started out in the kerem, or vineyard, last Monday (April 12), and basically I never wanted to leave. Work starts at 6:15, and my walk to the fields was made better by the sun rising in pink streaks above the mountains around us. Before we departed to the vineyard to get down to business all the workers meet in the shed/gathering area to drink coffee and listen to passages of Jewish wisdom- this week a Yeshiva student read to us from a book condemning LaShon Hara, or speaking ill of others. Only in Israel.
After this nice start to my day, I went to pick leaves off the grape vines to create sun windows for the fruit. I talked with Chanita, the only English speaking worker, about Kibbutz life, and I did my best with the other three Kurdistani women there who are so sweet. Eventually I zoned out as my limited Hebrew ran out and I fell under the spell of the rising sun's warmth and the rhythmic motion of plucking the leaves. Chanita, whose youngest child (out of 5!) is 9 months old said she came to work in the kerem because it was good for the soul. I would have to agree.
Monday night was erev Yom HaShoa, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, and our group had an intense and meaningful discussion about the Holocaust and how it affected each of us and our families. Afterwards we watched Defiance, which is a great movie and apparently unusually accurate as far as Holocaust movies go.
Tuesday was another day in the vineyard. I brought my Ipod this time and caught up on my music listening. I also spotted a lot of wildlife over the two days: two bird's nests, one with eggs and one without, a snake, two baby scorpions, a giant praying mantis, iguanas, a hummingbird, and a random wild parrot-like bird. We get off work early, so afterwards we went to the nearest mayan- lots of fun after a hard, hot day. At night we barbecued, and it was delicious. It's crazy to me that the jobs that we are volunteering for, which consist mostly of physical labor, are what people do for years and years here-there's a little old lady in the kitchen who has lived here for over 60 years. I think working so hard during the day really makes our group appreciate the small things, like sitting around a table with friends over a good homemade meal and talking and laughing.
On Wednesday I switched to working in the kitchen to help prepare for a wedding, which translates to scrubbing industrial sized pots (they feed almost 1000 people per meal) for 8 hours, but I made friends with the two ladies I worked with and enjoyed listening to Gal-Gal-Galatz (I butchered that transliteration), which is the major Israeli radio station that plays songs ranging from Cindy Lauper to Kesha to Israeli singers and makes for an interesting medley. Wednesday night was a lot of fun. We watched Stepbrothers and ate Tim-Tams, which was an even in and of itself. When you nibble both diagonal ends of the cookie, place it in a hot beverage, and suck on one end like a straw, the chocolate coating on the cookie melts and it magically transforms to something gooey and melty and delicious beyond cookie-ness. Randomly our madrich also took some bees from the BioBee factory back from work to "babysit," and we took them out and played with them- I petted one; they don't sting.
Thursday I returned to my haven, the kerem, and picked more leaves and listened to more music. So nice. Our evening activity that night was hearing the story of Maor, our madrich, whose family was evacuated from their moshav in the Gaza strip. I am going to see if he will do a guest post, because I don't think I will do his story justice.
Friday we ended work early and went to the mayan for swimming, Turkish coffee, and some relaxation- just what we all needed after waking up at 5:30 every morning. On Saturday I slept til 10- absolutely glorious. And now...I'm just about caught up. Today is Sunday; I switched jobs and am back in the kitchen. Today is Yom HaZikaron, or Remembrance Day for the fallen soldiers of Israel, and I will discuss this more in my next post.
On Wednesday my bus volunteered at a soup kitchen in Jerusalem and also visited a special old age home that teaches elderly, poor immigrants craft skills in exchange for a weekly stipend and two meals a day. Their products are surprisingly beautiful, ranging from simple papier-mache birds to intricately carved wooden chamsas to silk challah covers to silver jewelry, and are sold to profit the organization. It's a really cool idea and it was comforting to see that these peopel were both being helped and empowered as they produced amazing art.
That night we had a guest speaker, Murray Greenfield, who was a New Yorker who made aliyah to Israel in the late forties to help smuggle immigrants into the country and get them out of detention camps, where the British often forced them to stay before Israel became a country. It was really interesting as I didn't know much about the detention camps or this period of Israel's history, and the subject was again approched on Thursday as we went to the Atlit detention camp to see how the detainees lived. Before going we stopped at the beach for a fun activity. When Israelis would smuggle immigrants in on boats, they would swap clothes with them in the harbor so that British officials wouldn't be able to distinguish the foreigners from the natives. So we split up into partners with one person going in the water and one person staying on shore- the shore person had to "rescue" the person in the water by switching clothes (we had bathing suits on underneath, not to worry) and carrying them ashore. It was a lot of fun and we frolicked in the waves for a good long while, but more than that the activity of carrying one another on our backs symbolized to me how Jewish people really strive take care of their own, both then and now. Afterwards we visited the remains of the detention camp, and it was beyond creepy. Keep in mind that most of the detainees were survivors of the Holocaust, and to me it felt like even after arriving in Israel they had just gone from one camp to another- Atlit consisted of barracks, barbed wire, watchtowers, and a shower room. Again, I really knew nothing about these camps so although I was slightly horrified it was interesting to learn about.
Friday was a fun day in which we got to know our madrich Eran a littler better. First we went to Latrun, the Israeli tank museum, and learned about the Independence war. Eran was a tank commander during his army service, so he gave us a tour of the different models that were on display and shared his experiences with us. We were invited back to his house for a lunch of hummus and falafel with his family. Good food, good company, and lots of funny baby pictures.
After a restful Shabbat on campus with the whole group, we split up to go on our three week period of volunteering. Some people went to Tzfat, two groups to different kibbutzim, and some people went to Sar El (an army base). I, however, am on the best volunteer option of all (in my humble opinion). I am volunteering on kibbutz Sde Eliyahu, which is a modern Orthodox kibbutz with a vineyard, pomegranate orchard, spice factory, carrot factory, and something called BioBee which uses insects as pesticide alternatives. They also produce many other food crops which are all organic; the farmer in charge is 86 and was Israel's first organic farmer. We are in a valley close to the Kineret, so basically we are surrounded by a 360 degree view of mountains. There are a multitude of natural springs, or mayanim, around us, and the groomed lawns, playgrounds, flowers, and palm trees give the grounds a resort-like feel. People travel everywhere by bike (I have only counted 6 cars) and there's no money here; instead, you can exchange shekalim for "funny money" (green paper squares imprinted with their monetary value) to use in the store, where everything is at least half the price it would be anywhere else in Israel because it is subsidized by the Kibbutz. There is a beautiful synagogue, a dining hall with 3 great meals a day, wireless internet, a swimming pool. It is truly amazing what this establishment, which was founded only 60 years ago by German immigrants, has accomplished and produced; people here live comfortably, perhaps even a bit luxuriously, through a socialist, religious system.
So here's how it works. We live on the kibbutz in dorm-like areas and have our own moadon, or common area, and get three meals a day, laundry, and whatever else we need in exchange for 8 hours of volunteer work. Each person does a different job each week. I started out in the kerem, or vineyard, last Monday (April 12), and basically I never wanted to leave. Work starts at 6:15, and my walk to the fields was made better by the sun rising in pink streaks above the mountains around us. Before we departed to the vineyard to get down to business all the workers meet in the shed/gathering area to drink coffee and listen to passages of Jewish wisdom- this week a Yeshiva student read to us from a book condemning LaShon Hara, or speaking ill of others. Only in Israel.
After this nice start to my day, I went to pick leaves off the grape vines to create sun windows for the fruit. I talked with Chanita, the only English speaking worker, about Kibbutz life, and I did my best with the other three Kurdistani women there who are so sweet. Eventually I zoned out as my limited Hebrew ran out and I fell under the spell of the rising sun's warmth and the rhythmic motion of plucking the leaves. Chanita, whose youngest child (out of 5!) is 9 months old said she came to work in the kerem because it was good for the soul. I would have to agree.
Monday night was erev Yom HaShoa, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, and our group had an intense and meaningful discussion about the Holocaust and how it affected each of us and our families. Afterwards we watched Defiance, which is a great movie and apparently unusually accurate as far as Holocaust movies go.
Tuesday was another day in the vineyard. I brought my Ipod this time and caught up on my music listening. I also spotted a lot of wildlife over the two days: two bird's nests, one with eggs and one without, a snake, two baby scorpions, a giant praying mantis, iguanas, a hummingbird, and a random wild parrot-like bird. We get off work early, so afterwards we went to the nearest mayan- lots of fun after a hard, hot day. At night we barbecued, and it was delicious. It's crazy to me that the jobs that we are volunteering for, which consist mostly of physical labor, are what people do for years and years here-there's a little old lady in the kitchen who has lived here for over 60 years. I think working so hard during the day really makes our group appreciate the small things, like sitting around a table with friends over a good homemade meal and talking and laughing.
On Wednesday I switched to working in the kitchen to help prepare for a wedding, which translates to scrubbing industrial sized pots (they feed almost 1000 people per meal) for 8 hours, but I made friends with the two ladies I worked with and enjoyed listening to Gal-Gal-Galatz (I butchered that transliteration), which is the major Israeli radio station that plays songs ranging from Cindy Lauper to Kesha to Israeli singers and makes for an interesting medley. Wednesday night was a lot of fun. We watched Stepbrothers and ate Tim-Tams, which was an even in and of itself. When you nibble both diagonal ends of the cookie, place it in a hot beverage, and suck on one end like a straw, the chocolate coating on the cookie melts and it magically transforms to something gooey and melty and delicious beyond cookie-ness. Randomly our madrich also took some bees from the BioBee factory back from work to "babysit," and we took them out and played with them- I petted one; they don't sting.
Thursday I returned to my haven, the kerem, and picked more leaves and listened to more music. So nice. Our evening activity that night was hearing the story of Maor, our madrich, whose family was evacuated from their moshav in the Gaza strip. I am going to see if he will do a guest post, because I don't think I will do his story justice.
Friday we ended work early and went to the mayan for swimming, Turkish coffee, and some relaxation- just what we all needed after waking up at 5:30 every morning. On Saturday I slept til 10- absolutely glorious. And now...I'm just about caught up. Today is Sunday; I switched jobs and am back in the kitchen. Today is Yom HaZikaron, or Remembrance Day for the fallen soldiers of Israel, and I will discuss this more in my next post.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Gadna, Pesach in Tel Aviv
I'm still playing catch-up as far as posts go, and I'm on two Fridays ago after Yad Vashem- around March 23?
In the morning, the entire Alexander Muss High School in Israel group, JDS, and Weber performed a flash mob dance on the boardwalk in Tel Aviv. A flash mob, in case you were wondering, occurs when a group of people randomly perform a pre-choreographed dance in the middle of a crowded public area, to the surprise of innocent bystanders. Here's a youtube of ours: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qka3vxRzyaU. So funny. The dance was also intended to help raise awareness about Gilad Shalit.
After our performance we departed to our first open shabbat, which I spent with my friends Michal and Melanie at Michal's Safta's South African retirement home. Basically it was the cutest Shabbat dinner and lunch of my life, filled with lots of English tea and old people. On Saturday we met up with some friends, went to the beach, and walked around the Herzliyya mall, which was a nice little slice of American culture (they had the Gap?). It was relaxing and much-needed, and I returned on Sunday ready to go to Gadna.
Gadna is a program that all Israeli high school students complete. It's sort of like a week long taste of the army. Kids live on a base for five days, wear Tzahal uniforms, do boot camp, and learn to shoot a gun. We left on Sunday morning and I was not looking forward to it. I'd been working out before the trip mainly in anticipation for the boot camp part of the week (my friend I would do push-ups over the phone together); I basically thought I wouldn't make it. Getting off the bus to all-Hebrew shouts of scary, unsmiling uniformed soldiers wasn't that comforting either. All of us assembled in the "achshev" or "attetntion" position on the basketball court while we were randomly chosen by the commanders (Mephakdim; our female commander was a Mephakedet) to be in tzevets (units) of about 15 kids. We traveled as a unit to get our uniforms, mattresses, sleeping bags, and blankets, and we had to do everything while counting down the seconds in Hebrew. If we weren't in formation by the end of the counting- push-ups! Our mephakedet told us her name only once so we would be able to find her in case of an emergency, but after that she was just "Hamephakedet." Everything we did followed an order and a loud, united "Ken hamephakedet!" or "yes commander!" in response to it.There was no standing, sitting, moving in formation without one. It was intense. Every command was also completely in Hebrew, so I was basically confused all of the time, but thankfully we had kids in our tzevet who would rotate translating our mephakedet's orders. The rest of the first day passed in grumpiness, running after the mephakedet, and five million sets of counting down to thirty seconds and assembling in "chets"- a Hebrew letter that looks like a semi-circle.
The next day was our day in the field...the long dreaded boot camp. We woke up at 5:30 and left in buses to go to a big open field/plain thing in the desert. We learned how to crawl, camouflage ourselves, build hidden shelters, and run from "rimonim," which literally means pomegranates but is the term the Tzahal uses for grenades. It ended up being fun, because we learned everything through games. I worried and worked out for nothing, but I did do 28 push-up sin a row at one point, so I guess that was a plus. Our tzevet made up cheers, snuck up on other tzevets to practice our rimonim-dodging, and covered our faces (and teeth!) in dirt. The fact that all of these things that we were learning and taking so lightly were actually vital to the survival of soldiers really disturbed me at many points during the day though. I had to keep telling myself that it wasn't that serious, but the whole thing felt strange. After our "training," our group finished the day with a "masa," or journey. We walked up hill to a water tower that overlooked the desert with the slogan "In the desert, the people of Israel will be tested" written on it, and discussed what the quote meant. Sde Boker, which is where the base is located, is actually beautiful. There are just huge sand dunes and rock cliffs everywhere, and we were high up enough to get an amazing view of the city, base, and nature surrounding it. All soldiers complete a masa at the end of their basic training, but theirs is a little different than what we did- they have three months of boot camp and their masas can be 35 miles long. Insane. If I lived in Israel, that would be in less than half a year, not to mention all 90 of the people I am with on this trip. It made me think-would we be ready to do that? Because here, it's not a question of readiness, or of wanting to go. It's the law.
After our first day of boot camp we had to start taking classes on how to shoot the guns. Guns are pretty uninteresting to me. The combination of the totally Hebrew classes occurring outside in the hot sun while I was in my long sleeved uniform lulled me to sleep time and time again, and this was pretty much the peak of my dislike for Gadna; time had never moved so slowly. Later that night, though, our mephakedet brought us to a spot outside with another incredible view of the desert while the sun was setting. She asked us to make a map of Israel out of stones, and then we discussed what Israel meant to us. It was a great conversation, and it was really nice to hear her open up about her perspective on Israel and the army, because she was only a few years older than us.
On the way back from the pleasant spot to dinner, I got sick. Miraculously (and thankfully) I woke up fine the next morning, because I would be darned if I didn't have the experience of shooting the gun after all of those classes. I wasn't exactly excited about firing the gun, but I felt like I needed to do it. After all, the point of Gadna is to see what it's like to be a soldier, and soldiers use guns. We went to the shooting range in the morning and took turns shooting. I was the first one done in my group because I just wanted to get it over with; it wasn't that bad, but I jumped with every shot. Thankfully, I didn't pee my pants. I was worried about that.
The afternoon was really interesting though. We met with our mephakedet to discuss how using the guns, which is the culmination of the week, went. The discussion was completely different than I thought it would be. It focused on what she called the "purity of the weapon." She emphasized that shooting shouldn't be fun but serious and that this is t aught to all soldiers, that the Tzahal was a defensive army and that Israel only uses guns because it needs to in order to survive, and that what makes the weapon "pure" is the intention and thought that goes into using it. Our group also went through many different scenarios that real soldiers have been put in and discussed what the ethical thing to do would be in these situations. Here's an example: you are a male soldier at a checkpoint with no one else around you. A pregnant Palestinian woman needs to get through because she is about to give birth. You need to check her, but you can't because you are a man and this is both a violation of her beliefs and army rules. What do you do? Well, this actually happened in real life, and it turns out that the soldier checked the woman and found that her pregnant belly was really a bomb. We argued and argued about this and other "hypothetical" scenes, but the scary thing is that again, if we lived in Israel, we would be the ones making those decisions in less than half a year. Despite the intensity of the discussion, I felt relieved and glad that we were talking about this kind of stuff. My weird feelings about the fake-war boot camp passed as I realized that Gadna is really about changng people's perspectives about the army, not propagating militarism or making a joke out of it. My positive view on the program was strengthened later that night as we had a talk with the head commander about Tzahal- she talked about how joining Tzahal is not as much about joining an army but about defending an idea- that of having a Jewish state and home.
The next day was our last, and after a closing ceremony at Ben Gurion's grave and giving back all of our army gear we met with our mephakedim one last time before leaving. It was so funny- our mephakedet miraculously became human, laughing with us, telling us her story, taking pictures with us- she even hugged us and gave us her email address! Again, it showed us another view of soldiers. I'm really glad we had the experience of Gadna; it sounds cheesy, but I really appreciate soldiers, and especially Tzahal, so much more now- it was an eye-opening couple of days.
As much as I gained from Gadna, I was more than happy to get back to a campus and relax for a few days before leaving for spring break. I spent Pesach with a friend's cousin in Tel Aviv, and it was so nice to be a part of a family temporarily for Seder. Other cool things about Pesach in Israel:
1. You know that part of the seder where they say "next year in Jerusalem?" Well, I wasn't in Jerusalem, but I was in Israel, so I think it counts!
2. So my friend Melanie and I were walking to Seder (we stayed with the grandparents of the cousins, and they live on the same street, which is adorable) and we were looking into everyone's windows and observing their family gatherings when Mel made an interesting observation. The Jews in Egypt had to put blood over their doors so that the plague of the first born would pass over them and so that their houses would be distinguished from those of the Egyptians. But here, everyone was Jewish, and everyone was having a Seder- literally. Pretty neat.
3. Israel has kosher for Passover bread. Even neater!
Anyways, after Pesach and hanging out for a day we went with my friend's family to the North. We met his cousins for a picnic on the beach at a boarding school that gives therapy to kids and tramautized soldiers. It sounds weird but the campus (and Northern Israel in general) is amazingly beautiful; it's green, flower-filled, and there's an ocean view. The school has horses that they also use for therapeutic purposes, and we were able to go for a horseback ride on the beach. So yeah, that was incredible. Later that night we went to an amazing Israeli barbecue with about 30 members of my friend's Israeli family- very warm, entertaining, and fun. The next day we went for an ATV tour of the countryside, which was just awesome. We passed through a national park as well and saw a lot of random wildlife in addition to the usual Israeli wildflowers. We also went to this really cool spice and tea market in the afternoon where most of the stuff is grown locally, and we went to lunch at a place famous for "hummus im basar," or hummus with meat. Best hummus I've ever had, and yeah...the restaurant was in a gas station. In Israel, that's acceptable, apparently. I love it.
We returned to Ramat Efal to the grandparent's house (their names are Yorem and Shoshi, and I can't say enough nice things about them- I felt like they were my actual family) which is right outside Tel Aviv, and that's where I spent the rest of the break. Tel Aviv is such a cool city. I really got to know it because we literally walked everywhere to avoid paying for cabs. Melanie and I walked for over 5 hours one night, just exploring, and we ended up seeing Yentl in Hebrew because we randomly stumbled upon a theatre while we were trying to find the Tel Aviv art museum. I couldn't understand that much, but I enjoyed the music and it was still a nice cultural experience. Other than that, we beached, we shopped, we shuk-ed, we ate. Basic vacation requirements, fulfilled.
In the morning, the entire Alexander Muss High School in Israel group, JDS, and Weber performed a flash mob dance on the boardwalk in Tel Aviv. A flash mob, in case you were wondering, occurs when a group of people randomly perform a pre-choreographed dance in the middle of a crowded public area, to the surprise of innocent bystanders. Here's a youtube of ours: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qka3vxRzyaU. So funny. The dance was also intended to help raise awareness about Gilad Shalit.
After our performance we departed to our first open shabbat, which I spent with my friends Michal and Melanie at Michal's Safta's South African retirement home. Basically it was the cutest Shabbat dinner and lunch of my life, filled with lots of English tea and old people. On Saturday we met up with some friends, went to the beach, and walked around the Herzliyya mall, which was a nice little slice of American culture (they had the Gap?). It was relaxing and much-needed, and I returned on Sunday ready to go to Gadna.
Gadna is a program that all Israeli high school students complete. It's sort of like a week long taste of the army. Kids live on a base for five days, wear Tzahal uniforms, do boot camp, and learn to shoot a gun. We left on Sunday morning and I was not looking forward to it. I'd been working out before the trip mainly in anticipation for the boot camp part of the week (my friend I would do push-ups over the phone together); I basically thought I wouldn't make it. Getting off the bus to all-Hebrew shouts of scary, unsmiling uniformed soldiers wasn't that comforting either. All of us assembled in the "achshev" or "attetntion" position on the basketball court while we were randomly chosen by the commanders (Mephakdim; our female commander was a Mephakedet) to be in tzevets (units) of about 15 kids. We traveled as a unit to get our uniforms, mattresses, sleeping bags, and blankets, and we had to do everything while counting down the seconds in Hebrew. If we weren't in formation by the end of the counting- push-ups! Our mephakedet told us her name only once so we would be able to find her in case of an emergency, but after that she was just "Hamephakedet." Everything we did followed an order and a loud, united "Ken hamephakedet!" or "yes commander!" in response to it.There was no standing, sitting, moving in formation without one. It was intense. Every command was also completely in Hebrew, so I was basically confused all of the time, but thankfully we had kids in our tzevet who would rotate translating our mephakedet's orders. The rest of the first day passed in grumpiness, running after the mephakedet, and five million sets of counting down to thirty seconds and assembling in "chets"- a Hebrew letter that looks like a semi-circle.
The next day was our day in the field...the long dreaded boot camp. We woke up at 5:30 and left in buses to go to a big open field/plain thing in the desert. We learned how to crawl, camouflage ourselves, build hidden shelters, and run from "rimonim," which literally means pomegranates but is the term the Tzahal uses for grenades. It ended up being fun, because we learned everything through games. I worried and worked out for nothing, but I did do 28 push-up sin a row at one point, so I guess that was a plus. Our tzevet made up cheers, snuck up on other tzevets to practice our rimonim-dodging, and covered our faces (and teeth!) in dirt. The fact that all of these things that we were learning and taking so lightly were actually vital to the survival of soldiers really disturbed me at many points during the day though. I had to keep telling myself that it wasn't that serious, but the whole thing felt strange. After our "training," our group finished the day with a "masa," or journey. We walked up hill to a water tower that overlooked the desert with the slogan "In the desert, the people of Israel will be tested" written on it, and discussed what the quote meant. Sde Boker, which is where the base is located, is actually beautiful. There are just huge sand dunes and rock cliffs everywhere, and we were high up enough to get an amazing view of the city, base, and nature surrounding it. All soldiers complete a masa at the end of their basic training, but theirs is a little different than what we did- they have three months of boot camp and their masas can be 35 miles long. Insane. If I lived in Israel, that would be in less than half a year, not to mention all 90 of the people I am with on this trip. It made me think-would we be ready to do that? Because here, it's not a question of readiness, or of wanting to go. It's the law.
After our first day of boot camp we had to start taking classes on how to shoot the guns. Guns are pretty uninteresting to me. The combination of the totally Hebrew classes occurring outside in the hot sun while I was in my long sleeved uniform lulled me to sleep time and time again, and this was pretty much the peak of my dislike for Gadna; time had never moved so slowly. Later that night, though, our mephakedet brought us to a spot outside with another incredible view of the desert while the sun was setting. She asked us to make a map of Israel out of stones, and then we discussed what Israel meant to us. It was a great conversation, and it was really nice to hear her open up about her perspective on Israel and the army, because she was only a few years older than us.
On the way back from the pleasant spot to dinner, I got sick. Miraculously (and thankfully) I woke up fine the next morning, because I would be darned if I didn't have the experience of shooting the gun after all of those classes. I wasn't exactly excited about firing the gun, but I felt like I needed to do it. After all, the point of Gadna is to see what it's like to be a soldier, and soldiers use guns. We went to the shooting range in the morning and took turns shooting. I was the first one done in my group because I just wanted to get it over with; it wasn't that bad, but I jumped with every shot. Thankfully, I didn't pee my pants. I was worried about that.
The afternoon was really interesting though. We met with our mephakedet to discuss how using the guns, which is the culmination of the week, went. The discussion was completely different than I thought it would be. It focused on what she called the "purity of the weapon." She emphasized that shooting shouldn't be fun but serious and that this is t aught to all soldiers, that the Tzahal was a defensive army and that Israel only uses guns because it needs to in order to survive, and that what makes the weapon "pure" is the intention and thought that goes into using it. Our group also went through many different scenarios that real soldiers have been put in and discussed what the ethical thing to do would be in these situations. Here's an example: you are a male soldier at a checkpoint with no one else around you. A pregnant Palestinian woman needs to get through because she is about to give birth. You need to check her, but you can't because you are a man and this is both a violation of her beliefs and army rules. What do you do? Well, this actually happened in real life, and it turns out that the soldier checked the woman and found that her pregnant belly was really a bomb. We argued and argued about this and other "hypothetical" scenes, but the scary thing is that again, if we lived in Israel, we would be the ones making those decisions in less than half a year. Despite the intensity of the discussion, I felt relieved and glad that we were talking about this kind of stuff. My weird feelings about the fake-war boot camp passed as I realized that Gadna is really about changng people's perspectives about the army, not propagating militarism or making a joke out of it. My positive view on the program was strengthened later that night as we had a talk with the head commander about Tzahal- she talked about how joining Tzahal is not as much about joining an army but about defending an idea- that of having a Jewish state and home.
The next day was our last, and after a closing ceremony at Ben Gurion's grave and giving back all of our army gear we met with our mephakedim one last time before leaving. It was so funny- our mephakedet miraculously became human, laughing with us, telling us her story, taking pictures with us- she even hugged us and gave us her email address! Again, it showed us another view of soldiers. I'm really glad we had the experience of Gadna; it sounds cheesy, but I really appreciate soldiers, and especially Tzahal, so much more now- it was an eye-opening couple of days.
As much as I gained from Gadna, I was more than happy to get back to a campus and relax for a few days before leaving for spring break. I spent Pesach with a friend's cousin in Tel Aviv, and it was so nice to be a part of a family temporarily for Seder. Other cool things about Pesach in Israel:
1. You know that part of the seder where they say "next year in Jerusalem?" Well, I wasn't in Jerusalem, but I was in Israel, so I think it counts!
2. So my friend Melanie and I were walking to Seder (we stayed with the grandparents of the cousins, and they live on the same street, which is adorable) and we were looking into everyone's windows and observing their family gatherings when Mel made an interesting observation. The Jews in Egypt had to put blood over their doors so that the plague of the first born would pass over them and so that their houses would be distinguished from those of the Egyptians. But here, everyone was Jewish, and everyone was having a Seder- literally. Pretty neat.
3. Israel has kosher for Passover bread. Even neater!
Anyways, after Pesach and hanging out for a day we went with my friend's family to the North. We met his cousins for a picnic on the beach at a boarding school that gives therapy to kids and tramautized soldiers. It sounds weird but the campus (and Northern Israel in general) is amazingly beautiful; it's green, flower-filled, and there's an ocean view. The school has horses that they also use for therapeutic purposes, and we were able to go for a horseback ride on the beach. So yeah, that was incredible. Later that night we went to an amazing Israeli barbecue with about 30 members of my friend's Israeli family- very warm, entertaining, and fun. The next day we went for an ATV tour of the countryside, which was just awesome. We passed through a national park as well and saw a lot of random wildlife in addition to the usual Israeli wildflowers. We also went to this really cool spice and tea market in the afternoon where most of the stuff is grown locally, and we went to lunch at a place famous for "hummus im basar," or hummus with meat. Best hummus I've ever had, and yeah...the restaurant was in a gas station. In Israel, that's acceptable, apparently. I love it.
We returned to Ramat Efal to the grandparent's house (their names are Yorem and Shoshi, and I can't say enough nice things about them- I felt like they were my actual family) which is right outside Tel Aviv, and that's where I spent the rest of the break. Tel Aviv is such a cool city. I really got to know it because we literally walked everywhere to avoid paying for cabs. Melanie and I walked for over 5 hours one night, just exploring, and we ended up seeing Yentl in Hebrew because we randomly stumbled upon a theatre while we were trying to find the Tel Aviv art museum. I couldn't understand that much, but I enjoyed the music and it was still a nice cultural experience. Other than that, we beached, we shopped, we shuk-ed, we ate. Basic vacation requirements, fulfilled.
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